Over the years, public libraries have taken on various roles to address the digital divide, both to help provide access to technology and to help develop technology skills. With the prevalence of mobile access, what’s next for public libraries in this arena?

A recent study found that ebooks can boost print sales. Worthy of a study for sure, but in reality when the future is ebooks and electronic content, this would seem to be the wrong tactic. Why not offer free print books to increase ebook sales?

A potential 30% minimum bump in sales would probably be welcome to the publishing industry. I’m all for a thriving industry that can support more authors and release more titles. Yet, to adopt this wide scale and expend great efforts to drive print sales with a tantalizing free ebook offer would negatively affect the perception of ebooks. Ebooks as weaker in sales and perfect freebies = perhaps profitable, surely not sustainable?

Hurricane season has arrived. Why not stay informed of storm activity by subscribing to one of the RSS feeds offered by the National Hurricane Center (NHC)? RSS feeds are offered for the Atlantic (including Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico) and the Eastern Pacific. In addition, there are per-storm feeds available which correspond to specific advisories issued for active storms. (The NHC offers e-mail advisories, too.)

A full list of all RSS feeds from the National Weather Service is available here.